Apparatus for mounting railway freight containers



R. A. NORBOM May 23, 1961 APPARATUS FOR MOUNTING RAILWAY FREIGHT CONTAINERS Filed 001;. 20, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. RagnarANorbom BY W A TTORNE YS APPARATUS FOR MOUNTING RAILWAY FREIGHT CONTAINERS Filed Oct. 20, 1958 R. A. NORBOM May 23, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

A TTORNE YS RagharANorbom BY pm hm APPARATUS FOR MOUNTING RAILWAY FREIGHT CONTAINERS Ragnar A. Norbom, Alexandria, Va., assignor to National Car Company, Washington, D.C., a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 20, 1958, Ser. No. 768,234

3 Claims. (Cl. 105-366) This invention relates to demountable containers for use on railway cars and more particularly to an apparatus for securing such a container to railway rolling stock.

In the transportation industry, there has developed considerable commercial exploitation of the piggy back system of transporting freight. Generally, this system involves the use of individual freight containers adapted to be hauled by rail over long distances and then transferred to motorized tractor-trailer type road vehicles for delivery to local areas. In the initial development of this system of transportation, the railroad companies were able to handle the small demand for demountable container shipments with passenger service, thus mitigating damage to the vulnerable connection of the container to the car and thus the resulting damage to lading. However, with the increased activity in this field of transportation, the railroad industry is no longer able to provide passenger service for the transportation of demountable containers and has had to turn to freight service in order to satisfy the demand. Correspondingly, the damage incurred by the relatively rough handling given freight service has increased primarily because of inadequate cushioning between the container and the freight car as well as the need for a sufiiciently strong latching means by which the container is secured thereto. More specifically, most of this damage has been caused to the slide rails on which the container is positioned or to the containers and/or lading when the containers become disengaged from the slide rails due to the inertial forces exerted by the load on the rail and connection thereto during rough handling such as is incurred in freight service. For a disclosure of the general organization incorporating slide rails for receiving demountable containers of the type here involved, see U.S. Patent No. 2,834,495.

An object of this invention, therefore, is the provision of an apparatus for mounting freight containers to railway cars whereby the inertial impact forces transmitted from the lading in the containers to the flat car slide rails is absorbed without damage to the container nor the slide rail connection to the car.

Another object of this invention is that of providing an apparatus of the type referred to incorporating cushioning means between the container supporting slide rail and the railway car.

A further object of this invention is the provision of an apparatus of the type referred to incorporating a simple but highly effective latch mechanism for securing the freight container to the slide-rail and thus the railway car.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a highly effective mounting apparatus for railway freight containers which in no way requires the outside dimensions of the freight container to be enlarged.

A still further object is the provision of an apparatus of the type referred to which facilitates the connection ofa transfer bridge of the type commonly used in transnited States Patent lce ferring the containers from a railway flat car to a road vehicle or vice versa.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when read in the light of the attached drawings in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view showing the sliderail cushioning assembly of this invention with the container and latch mechanism removed.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary elevation taken along lines 22 of Fig. 1 and a fragmentary elevation of a freight container on the slide-rail.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side view taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 1 additionally showing the latch mechanism and container in place.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the latch mechanism, and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary end view of the container mounting apparatus of this invention.

In general, the objects of this invention are carried out by mounting the freight container on transverse slide rails of standard railway rail section, the ends of which are supported on the railway car side sill in a manner such that impact forces acting longitudinally of the car are absorbed by resilient cushions, the container being held securely to the slide rails by latch means engaging both the slide rail and an upwardly facing shoulder in the container substructure. 7

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a railway car side sill 10 having an upper flange 11 to which one end of the container mounting apparatus of this invention is attached and a lower flange 12. The car side sill extends longitudinally of the railway car, there being one such sill on each side of the standard car. Since the structure here involved is symmetrical transversely of the railway car, only one side is shown, it being understood that the following description applies to the structure on both sides of the longitudinal center line of the railway car to which container mounting apparatus is to be afiixed.

A container 13 adapted to be mounted on the railway car is provided with a pair (only one being shown) of transversely extending skid-ways 14 in the form of a channel having a web portion 15 for attachment to the container bottom and a pair of depending flanges 16. The end portions of the container skid-ways 14 are stifiened by gusset plates 17 substantially as shown and the underside of the skid-way web portion is provided with a rub strip 18 of material having a low coeflicient of friction such as nylon or the like. The rub strip facilitates the sliding of the freight container off and on to slide rails 20 extending transversely of the railway car and aflixed thereto in a manner which will be more fully described hereinafter. Also, while only one skid-way and slide rail are shown to more clearly depict the invention herein presented, it is to be understood that at least two such assemblies are provided for each container as disclosed in the above mentioned US. patent.

The slide rails 20 are of standard railway rail crosssection having a bulbous portion 21 and to the underside of each end thereof is riveted, bolted, welded or otherwise aflixed two plates 22 and 24. The plate 22 is substantially flat and is arranged to extend beyond the rail 20 and rest on the side sill flange 11 while the plate 24, positioned immediately below the plate 22, is bent forming a lowered end portion 26 and a downwardly extending flange portion 28. Thus it is seen that the upper flange of the car side sill is enclosed by the plate 22 and the lowered portion 26 of plate 24 preventing any vertical displacement of the slide rail with respect to the car side sill. Moreover, since the opposite end of the rail is identically connected, axial displacement of the slide rail Wth respect to the car side sills is prevented. A gusset plate 30 is Welded or otherwise affixed to the underside of plate 24 perpendicularly at the center thereof. Cylindrical tubes 32 and 34 are affixed to each side of the gusset plate 30 and receive correspondingly, cylindrical cushions 36 and 38. As shown in Fig. 1, the car side sill is provided with a pair of abutments 40 and 42 spaced at a distance substantially equal to the combined length of the rubber cushions 36 and 38 and the thickness of the gusset plate 30. It now becomes apparent that when the slide rail 20 is in place between the car side sills, while vertical movement thereof is positively restricted by plates 22 and 2'4, any components of force which tend to move the rail in either a forward or rearward direction is absorbed by the rubber cushions 36 and 38 acting against the gusset plate 30 and the abutments '40 and 42 attached to the car side sill 10.

An inverted T-shaped bridge connector 44 is afiixed to the plate 22 adjacent the end of the slide rail 20. The upstanding portion of the bridge connector is formed having an aperture 46 and is cut out at its upper inside corner to form a recess 48. The bridge 50, shown in dotted lines and commonly used in transferring the container from a railway car to a tractor drawn roadway trailer, is connected to the bridge connector by inserting a pin through the aperture 46 therein.

Referring now to the latching mechanism by which the container is secured to the slide rail 20 and thus the railway car, there is provided by this invention a latching mechanism generally designated by the numeral 52. One such mechanism is detachably secured to each end of the slide rail to facilitate loading and unloading the container to and from the car in a manner more fully described hereinafter. The mechanism includes a body 54, a latch clevis 56 pivotally connected to the body for movement in and out of the recess 48 formed in the bridge connector 44, and a pair of gravity actuated pawls 58 pivotally connected to the outside upper portion of the body for preventing accidental movement of the latch clevis 56 out of the recess 48. The pawls 58 are welded to a pin 59 extending through apertures in the upper outside portion of the latch body. To prevent unauthorized tampering with the latch mechanism the gravity actuated pawls are retained in place by a standard railway seal 60 extending around at least one of the pawls and through an aperture 61 in the upper portion of the latch body.

The lower portion of the latch body is provided with a pair of depending slide rail engaging portions or walls 62 and '64 having upwardly facing shoulders '66 and 68 at the lower inside edge thereof which are adapted to engage the underside of the bulbous portion 21 of the slide rail 20. The lower portion of the latch body extends inwardly past the upward upper portion thereof and terminates in a pair of prongs 70 having downwardly facing surfaces 72.

At each end of the container skid-ways 14, are provided blocks 74, welded or otherwise affixed to the inside surfaces of the skid-way flanges 16. The outside upper portion of the blocks 74 are cut out to define with the skidrail web a recess for receiving the prongs 70 of the latch body 54.

In use, the latch mechanism on that side of the car receiving the container is removed and the transfer bridge 50 is connected to the bridge connector. After the freight container has been positioned centrally on the slide rails by abutting the upper portion of the latch body in place on the end of the slide rails opposite from'the loading side, the latch body is slid axially onto the bulbous portion of the rail 20, the latch clevis being in a raised position so as to ride over the upstanding portion of the bridge connector 44. After the latch body is in place with the prongs on the lower portion thereof engaging the recess in the blocks 74, the latch clevis is lowered into the recess 48 of the bridge connector and then the gravity pawls lowered thereover and the railway seal applied.

It now becomes apparent that all movement of the container with respect to the slide rail 21) is positively restricted. The engagement of the latch clevis in the recess 48 prevents outward movement of the latch body while the shoulders 68 on the lower portion of the latch body prevent upward movement thereof with respect to the rail. Correspondingly, any lateral or transverse movement of the container is prevented by the upper portion of the latch body while upward movement of the container is prohibited by the prongs 70 and more specifically the downwardly facing surface thereon engaging the recess in the blocks 74.

Thus, it is seen that by this invention, there is provided a freight container mounting apparatus which securely fixes the freight container to the railway car and yet is equipped with a cushioning device highly effective to prevent damage to the container or the lading therein due to impact forces caused by rough handling such as incurred in railway freight service.

Since many possible changes may be made in this invention and since many changes may be made in the embodiments hereinbefore set forth without departing from the spirit of this invention, it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing describes preferred forms and applicant claims the benefit of a full range of equivalents within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim: a

1. In an apparatus for mounting piggyback freight containers having sub-depending skidways on railway cars provided with transverse slide rails of standard head, flange and web construction, a latch mechanism comprising: alatch body formed having an upper portion and a lower portion, said lower portion having an undercut groove therein for slidable engagement with the head a of the slide rails; upwardly and outwardly facing ledges on the sub-depending skidways; downwardly and inwardly facing surfaces on the lower portion of said latch body for engaging said ledges; and means for preventing sliding movement of said body with respect to the slide rail. 7

2. The combination'recited in claim 1 wherein the lower portion of said latch body comprises: depending side walls; and inwardly and upwardly facing shoulders for engaging the head of the slide rail.

3. The combination recited in claim 1 wherein said means for preventing sliding movement of said body comprises: a recessed abutment adjacent the end of the slide rail; a latch clevis pivotally connected to said body and engageable in said recess; and gravity actuated pawls pivotally connected to said body for retaining said latch clevis in said recess.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,883,538 Bywater Oct. 18, 1932 2,126,764 Fitch Aug. 16, 1938 2,172,154 Perin Sept; 5, 1939 2,191,222 Sheehan Feb. 20, 1940 2,273,854 Fitch Feb. 24, 1942 2,516,881 .Iarvis Aug. 1, 1950 2,519,721 Taylor Aug. 22, 1950 2,631,885 Ault d. Mar. 17, 1953 2,834,495 Norbom May 13, '1958 2,932,261 Kersh Apr. 12, 1960 

